This perspective, however, does not limit her fiction or turn it into mere propaganda. "Her stories," Sherley Anne Williams wrote in
Ms., "aren't overwhelmed by politics, nor are her characters overwhelmed by racism or sexism." Speaking of how Butler's early novels deal with racial questions in particular, John R. Pfeiffer of
Fantasy Review maintained that "nevertheless, and therefore more remarkably, these are the novels of character that critics so much want to find in science fiction--and which remain so rare. Finally, they are love stories that are mythic, bizarre, exotic and heroic and full of doom and transcendence."
Among Butler's strengths as a writer, according to several reviewers, is her creation of believable, independent female characters. "Her major characters are black women," Foster explained, and through these characters Butler explores the possibilities for a society open to true sexual equality. In such a society Butler's female characters, "powerful and purposeful in their own right, need not rely upon eroticism to gain their ends." Williams also believed that Butler posits "a multiracial society featuring strong women characters." Still, her characters' race and gender are not Butler's primary concerns, according to a Publishers Weekly interview with the author.
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